Firstly, it’s the usual disclaimer’s stuff for all the characters except Nakamura Fuyuko, Nishiyama Yumi, Kasahara Sumiko, the Kami Kaze Clan and its members who belong only to ME.  I wouldn’t mind if you use them or anything but please ask for permission first, thx!  Secondly, I know my fic really sux but as it’s my first fic, please take some time to read it and send me comments (flames and compliments are both welcomed, though I *hope* there are no flames).  Anyway, juz read and enjoy!

PS. My thoughts are expressed in [ ]
 

In a desolate mountainous area in Japan…
 
A young girl of 16 sat by a crystal clear spring, her fingers running gently through the cold water in which tiny fishes darted playfully in between her fingers, oblivious to the girl obviously deep in thought as the mist emitted from the small fountain near the spring swirled her long dark purplish-red strands of hair that reached to her waist around her slim face.

The girl’s beautiful, fair face paralleled rare and expensive china.  Fine features – doe eyes the same shade of her soft, lustrous, elegant flowing locks, a perfectly shaped nose, and enchanting lips that put roses in full bloom to shame complimented with her delicate complexion, making her look too beautiful and perfect to be real, more like she was a portrait done by a very skilled artist.  But Nakamura Fuyuko was real as she sat beside the pool lost in thoughts….

~Flashback~

Nishiyama Yumi lay on the bad, pale and almost lifeless, her breathing slow and ragged, each breath with more difficulty than the last.  The energetic and vibrant woman in her mid-twenties she used to be was gone and in its place was a sickly, dying woman, emaciated and haggard, drained of all life and energy, reduced to nothing but a living corpse.  Kneeling beside her bed, sobbing uncontrollably was a 12-year old Fuyuko, clinging onto her sensei’s arm in a vice-like grip in hope that it would prevent her sensei’s life from vanishing forever.

It was a hateful and deadly fast spreading epidemic that has caused all this.  The Kami Kaze Clan’s location in a mountain used to be inhabited by almost fifty members now had only two people in it, one growing weaker by the minute.  The epidemic had infected the whole clan and claimed almost all of their lives, until only one remain, silently suffering in agonizing pain before she would also descend to the other world and join the rest.  Fuyuko, strangely, was unaffected by the disease due to her strong immunity and Yumi knew that her most admired and cared for pupil would have to shoulder a heavy responsibility.  With much difficulty, she summoned her strength to speak.

“Fuyuko, before I die, I must tell you all about this clan and the burden you shall have to bear.  You are mature for your age and I’m sure you can accept the facts.”

Fuyuko knew that death waited her sensei and nodded, hoping to be able to fulfill Yumi’s last wish.

“Starting from the history of our clan, our clan was formed 500 years ago by a woman called Kasahara Sumiko who devised a set of skill known as Kami Kaze, which made use of the elegance and grace of the wind to compliment the female’s movement in fighting [This has nothing to do with Fuuko or Fuujin].  Different weapons can be used with Kami Kaze – Kasahara used her hair which was very long to attack and bind opponents; I use silk straps hidden under my sleeve which I can control easily; while you use a metal whip.  Kami Kaze became one of the most powerful skills then and many came to learn from Kasahara, but she only took in female disciples.  Throughout the changing times, the clan has managed to stay in quiet and unknown existence until now.  After I die, you shall be the next leader of the clan, and on your sixteenth birthday, you shall have to make a trip to the modern world to get new members. I know you will not fail me and the clan…” Yumi then breathed her last.

At this, Fuyuko felt her heart wrench as her only kin since her parents died in an airplane crash when she was 9 died right before her eyes. Her dearest sensei who had found her and brought her up, who had treated her even more than like a daughter, who had given her so much…  She tried to hold back her tears, but they flowed out, disobeying her will to put on a strong front and Fuyuko spent the whole day at her sensei’s side, mourning

~End Flashback~

Fuyuko silently got up, watching the pale morning sky as the last star disappeared into the sky gradually lighting up, just as Sensei had died, gradually and painfully in silence. Sensei she thought silently I’m leaving now, I will not let you down.

Fuyuko started down a path down the mountain to the bustling modern city that lay below, wearing the clothes she had designed herself after observing people in the modern world.  A glittering silver bareback top with a hole in the front at you know where [sorry if it sounds hentai but it isn’t and is not meant to be] matched a dark blue micro miniskirt with a fake foxtail hanging down from the back and a pair of 4-inch high platform boots with a design of a leopard’s fur’s pattern.  Unknown to her, Fuyuko had a gorgeous figure which complimented the clothes, in addition to her porcelain face, made her look ravishing [if it sounds hentai, it was not intended, ok?].

Along the path was a river which flowed down from the spring at the top of the mountain, through the deep forests of the mountain filled with wonders of Mother Nature, down to the brown soiled base of the mountain where there was swamp land and finally emptied its waters into the sea full of wonders deep below its deep blue waters with waves crashing intently every moment.

Fuyuko walked by the river with fond memories in her mind.  This was where Sensei had found her, where she had spent a free time, watching the beauty and mesmerizing sights of the river.  Tiny fishes swimming playfully without a care made her wish that she could be as carefree as them… big fishes, majestic, would suddenly appear and devour the small fishes in an instant, reminding Fuyuko of the cruel world and reality, which she accepted and admired its way of working, beautiful in a harsh way.

Fuyuko’s eyes scanned the water surface, peering through a few metres down, to witness the beauty of nature below where the river was filled with water plants, swaying slightly with the water, and on top of the surface were a few lotuses, though only one in full bloom, its floating leave large enough and spread out evenly to support the blossoming pink tinged with white flower.  Fuyuko had always loved water; it gave her the feeling of coolness, and it was graceful as it flowed around, yet powerful. [ok, I’ll stop blabbering and get to the next point]

Just then, Fuyuko saw a young girl floating on the water, blood visible on her black suit, indicating that she was badly injured.  Fuyuko ran forward to and save the girl and examined the body to check on her injuries.  While examining the girl, Fuyuko then realized that she was actually a he.

The boy had long silver strands of hair, perfect and neat, even though he had been injured and had landed in the water, rested gracefully beside a face whose complexion made Fuyuko displeased to see one that rivaled hers, and he had a tall slim body that made him look gorgeous, even unconscious. [hentai again not intended if it sounds like it]

What a bishounen, thought Fuyuko.  Hey, what the heck am I thinking!  I never thought about such things before!  [She grew up in an all-female clan for 7 years in seclusion, you think she’d be thinking bout guys like high school girls?!]

Fuyuko surveyed his face calmly.  There was a slight, hardly-showing expression on his face that he was having a nightmare.  Fuyuko could tell that he had been through a lot, most probably as much or more than she did as she read through the slightly knitted eyebrows and tense expression on his face which he tried to conceal even in his sleep.

****
 

Mikagami Tokiya opened his baby blue eyes to find himself in an underground-furnished cave, he was lying on a futon and saw the room decorated with Japanese paintings of two women on the walls, then he turned his head and his gaze landed on a young girl sitting at the corner of the room with her back to him, and he could only see her red hair flowing down her back.

Then, she turned around and he saw her face, fair with a look of aloofness, yet her light purple eyes were filled with warmth, burning through the coldness of his body from being in the water after losing too much blood.  Tokiya tried to turn on the ice to prevent her warmth from reaching his heart, but only just succeeded in doing so.  Since when had he experience such warmth, it must have been years ago.

Fuyuko hurriedly turned away her gaze, to avoid letting him see a slight pink on her face, as she started twirling the boy’s weapon she had found in his pocket, when cleaning his wounds – a sword-like handle with a small white knife-like blade, observing it while furiously thinking about what had happened just now.  Why am I so concerned about this person, who is just a stranger?  I even brought him in our clan’s location, which is meant to be secret.  What am I doing?  Must be the confusion of having to go to the outside world today…that’s it…

Lost in thoughts, Fuyuko was taken by surprise when Mikagami saw his Ensui in her hand and rushed forward to grab it, before pouring some water on it, where a blade of water was formed. Shocked by what she had see, yet quick to react, Fuyuko took out her metal whip and braced herself.

Their weapons clashed against each other as they started to fight – Fuyuko’s metal whip, swift and forceful, yet full of grace in its movements against Mikagami’s Ensui, wielded with amazing speed and accuracy and almost as much grace as Fuyuko’s whip.

After a while, both side started to experience difficulty.  Fuyuko’s whip always hit the victim on the spot, yet this boy could easily dodge it and only got hit twice out of more than twenty times.  Mikagami was also anxious, his attacks were usually fatal, yet this girl had only sustained minor injuries and had even managed to injure him.  In desperation, he had used the Mizu Hebi/Water Snake and Tsurara Mai/Dancing Icicles on her yet she had dodged them with amazing speed and grace.

Finally, Fuyuko’s whip managed to wrap itself a round Mikagami before flinging him off and hitting him continuously on the stomach a few times, causing him to throw out blood.  Fuyuko ran towards him and seeing that he was extremely weak, transferred some internal energy to him.  Why am I doing this?  Slowly, Mikagami stirred and got up, ready to fight once more, but hesitated as he staggered, knowing that he could not defeat the girl in his present condition.

“Who are you?” he asked.  “Are you a henchman of Mori Kouran?”

“Huh?  Moley-Durian?  There are no durians here.  You want durian, go Singapore.”

Tokiya started sweatdropping furiously.  “Forget it, who are you anyway?  What were you doing with my Ensui?”

“I take great pride in my name so I won’t tell it to someone like you…wait a minute, d-did you just say ‘Ensui’?”

Tokiya just nodded, staring at her with a ‘so?’ look.

“That can’t be, unless you’re one of the Hokage Ninjas… but it was destroyed 400 years ago.  How come you have a madougu?”

“You know about Hokage?”

“My clan had records of it…” Fuyuko put a hand to her mouth when she just realized what she had blurted out.

Tokiya eyed her suspiciously, and saw on the left of her neck was a tiny symbol/marking with three wavy lines surrounded on its left side, by a curling arc.  He had read about this in books, the Kami Kaze Clan – all members had this symbol engraved on them on any part of their body.

“It can’t be,” he thought aloud.  “The Kami Kaze Clan existed 500 years ago.”

“Why not?” replied Fuyuko.  “Our clan managed to remain in unknown existence.  So what happened to you?  You look badly injured, you better stay here to recuperate.”

Tokiya knew that he had to accept, due to his fatal injuries.  After exchanging their names (after an hour of refusing to tell each other cause they take pride in their names), they told each other about what had happened within them and their clans.  Tokiya had been attacked after visiting his sister’s grave 3 days before he was supposed to set off to rescue Yanagi from Mori Kouran (Refer to manga volume 23).  He had arranged to meet the Hokage team and would have to recover within the next two days to save Yanagi. [Tokiya was NOT attacked, I made that up so that he could meet Fuyuko, but the part bout Yanagi and visiting his sis’s grave is true.]

****

Fuyuko and Tokiya sat by the cliff, watching the sunset as the setting sun slowly sank downwards to be swallowed up by the sea, cast its orange glow on the pink sky and the land, adding a beautiful shade of light to the paranomic view below them, setting an atmosphere of romance.  The trees gleamed with the sunlight glossing their green leaves, adding a shine to the water reflecting it, and on their faces, causing shadows of movements caused by the wind to dance around their faces, as the wind blew and ruffled up their hair, giving up when it remained perfect then tried again and gave up.   The whole place seemed so serene, so at peace, as if time had stopped, making this a still, beautiful picture, in which Fuyuko and Tokiya fitted perfectly in.  Tokiya had amazingly recovered within a day, thanks to Fuyuko’s medical skills and was leaving that night.  It was their last few moments together.

During that time, Tokiya had gotten to know Fuyuko, the soft-hearted, kind, caring girl underneath her cold and aloof exterior.  Like Tokiya, Fuyuko had hid her feelings, afraid to lose a loved one again, yet deep inside, she had a small flame, they same size of Tokiya’s [I’m sure he has a small flame too], waiting to be fuelled, to melt the ice around her.  She was also intelligent, and had mastered the Art of War, medicine etc in 1 year.  She was also almost mastering the last level of the Kami Kaze, which had 12 levels and would take more than 70 years to reach the sixth level.  Fuyuko, like Tokiya, was a genius.

There was something Tokiya felt for Fuyuko, friendship, respect, gratitude, and… something more… Am I in love with her?  Can’t be, I just met her 2 days ago, and I can’t afford to love again…but she is so nice, has the figure and looks…what the heck?… and she’s not like some 2-digit IQ females that swarm around me….

  Fuyuko sensed that Tokiya was troubled and spoke, “What is it?”

“Nothing, I was just thinking…”

“About what?”

“It’s nothing of your concern…”

What do you mean it’s none of my concern?  After all I’ve done for you, after we know so much about each other, am I nothing to you?  Am I not a friend to you… am I… I ….” Fuyuko turned away, her face hot and red with both anger and shyness, she couldn’t have said was she something more… who was she anyway, just an acquaintance with him!  Why did she care so much that she suddenly erupted like that she never lost her cool.  Heck care what happened, she was in no mood to watch the sunset, she was too angry.  Stupid sunset, making everything so orange, so ugly, so … she started to storm off when a hand grabbed her arm and turned her around.  Before she knew, it, arms grabbed her shoulders and soft lips kissed hers.

Fuyuko was taken by surprise and stood there shocked for a moment before she regained her senses and pushed Tokiya away, a tinge of pink appearing on her face, yet his grip on her was strong and she soon succumbed, relaxing, and deepening the kiss. After a while, they broke free of each other’s grasp and turned away, their faces burning.

Tokiya then turned around to Fuyuko, “I’m sorry, I didn’t say this before but after Mifuyu-neesan died, I was too afraid to love again.  And I also couldn’t confirm the feeling, I admit I had felt for you ever so slightly since we first met although I didn’t show it, and these two days, the feelings have grown deeper, yet I didn’t think this could be happening between us, who have just met.  I was also afraid that you did not feel the same way.. yet when you got angry, I felt so bad, so uncomfortable, I was sure that I had truly fallen for you that I … I’m sorry I didn’t say this earlier, but now I will… Fuyuko, aishiteru.”

Fuyuko looked startled at Tokiya’s sudden confession of love but her expression soon changed to one of happiness as her was touched by Tokiya’s speech that seemed to be coming right from his heart, “I’m sorry too, I also hid my feelings for you, having grown up in an all-female clan in this secluded region since I was 9, I thought that I couldn’t possibly for falling for someone, it just wasn’t right, and I thought it would be betraying my clan… but when you didn’t want to tell me what you were thinking about, I got so mad when it was not your fault, I’m so sorry.”  Fuyuko said all this as a teardrop rolled down her cheek, partly due to remorse, partly due to joy that Tokiya had accepted her, a mere acquaintance, as his love.

Tokiya tilted her chin and looked her in the eye.  Their gazes met as their hearts started to burn, and they looked even deeper with love in their eyes at the other person.  Slowly, Fuyuko wrapped her arms around Tokiya’s neck as his arms moved down to encircle her waist, as they pulled together in a warm embrace, until their faces were only an inch apart.  They both inched forward to close the gap as Tokiya’s lips pressed against Fuyuko’s gently, and she returned it by opening her mouth as Tokiya did to go on to the French kiss, so full of passion, that they’re whole bodies were burning like the sun setting in the distance.

The embrace and kiss continued f or a long time as two butterflies flew by, fluttering affectionately side by side.  A rabbit saw them and went back to his burrow, not wanting to disturb the lovers’ privacy.  And the sky slowly dimmed out as the sun, swallowed up by the sea, lost its brightness and radiance, and its place, was the moon, serene, and luminous, smiled at the couple below, as the countless number of stars, shining and flickering ever so brightly, gossiped and whispered in the early night sky, where a new found love had just begun.

****

Fuyuko lay on her futon, resting with her eyes closed as she thought about the day.  Tokiya had accepted her love and he had agreed to stay with her in the mountains where they would live together, without any intruders.  For that, Fuyuko would have to give up being the leader of her clan, which she willingly did.  As long as she was with Tokiya, she was content and willing to do anything for him.

Fuyuko suddenly opened her eyes and got up as she sensed someone’s presence.  Someone unwelcome.  Before she had time to react, a big piggish baldy (one of Mori Kouran’s men) had burst into her room, and grabbed her by her neck, almost strangling her as he roared, “Where is Mikagami Tokiya?!”

Fuyuko chokingly averted his question, “Who are you?”

“Just tell me where he is!” shouted the “pig” as he threw Fuyuko brutally and forcefully on the floor, and was attempting to step on her head and crush it when icicles suddenly emerged from the ground and badly in injured the “pig”.

Fuyuko saw Tokiya standing in the doorway as the “pig” collapsed, before facing him and saying, “So you’re here… tomorrow all your friends will be killed by Mori-sama…hahaha…” before it died.

Tokiya turned to Fuyuko, “I’m sorry I can’t stay with you here as promised, I have to help my friends even if they are a bunch of monkeys, and I have to save Yanagi-san.  I’m sorry, we most probably will not meet again.”

Trying hard to restrain her tears, Fuyuko faced Tokiya, “Kasahara Sumiko-sama set a rule in this clan that its members were never to fall in love with a man.  Now I know why she set that rule and the pain she must have gone through.  Go if you must, but don’t forget me.”

“I will never forget you,” said Tokiya, giving her a quick peck on her forehead, before disappearing in a flash.

Fuyuko ran after him and reached the exit/entrance of the cave where she saw Tokiya in the distance, his outline growing smaller and smaller before he disappeared completely.

Fuyuko dropped to her knees, tears forcing their way out o her eyes and uncontrollably streaming down her cheeks, “I will wait for you, no matter, how long it takes.  Aishiteru, Tokiya.”

Up above, the moon no longer smiled, it was sad and glistening, as if with tears, while dark clouds, gathered to cover the stars which were also on the verge of crying, and the rain, tears from the heavens, suddenly came pouring down hard on the earth.  All over the mountain, every single living creature knew what had happened, as the young girl still knelt outside, soaking wet, in a hope that the rain would wash away her sorrow.

So, comments anyone?  Too tragic, too exaggerated, not enough description (can’t blame me, I’m only 13 on the day I wrote this which is 10/12/2001)?  Please do send comments to me so I can know how I fared, and I might write a sequel to this, though I’m not so sure.  By the way, Fuyuko, although she is *not* like me, sort of represents me, which means Tokiya likes me.  Yay! *ducks from stones thrown by disappointed fangirls =P*

PS.  The song you hear when you read this, (err…. The html link works, rite?) is First Love by Utada Hikaru.  Nice, ne?